


Choosing Sides

by flipflop_diva



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Friendship, Gen, On the Run, Post-Civil War (Marvel), Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-06 22:01:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20514182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: With the Avengers and the Accords up in flames, everyone needs to pick a side. Maria picks Natasha's.





	Choosing Sides

**Author's Note:**

  * For [owlmoose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlmoose/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Taking Responsibility](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8001745) by [owlmoose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlmoose/pseuds/owlmoose). 

Maria knew Natasha was going to come back as soon as she heard about what happened in Germany. Which was about an hour after it happened when Fury called her with an update and told her to turn on the news.

She watched people she had once worked with be rounded up like cattle, walking toward police cars with their hands behind their back. Officials were roaming every inch of the airport. BOLOs were put out for Captain Rogers and one James Buchanan Barnes.

She only caught a glimpse of Natasha once, standing behind Tony, her hands clasped in front of her, looking calm but somber. There was nothing in her demeanor to belie the fact that she had done anything wrong. She had signed the Accords. She had fought with Tony.

Except the way she was standing, almost too stiff — the same way she used to stand long ago when she was a brand new SHIELD agent not entirely confident she was doing the right thing but pretended she knew she was — and the slight grimace on Tony’s face, and Maria knew then that Natasha was going to run.

And if she was going to run, she was going to go home first, to get a go-bag that Maria knew she always had everywhere she went, even if one of those places was probably more a home to her than anything else had ever been.

Maria could have just let her done that and be done with it. The Accords were a dangerous thing right now, and associating with fugitives even more so. But Maria had never cared about danger or laws or rules. What she did care about were her friends, and Natasha had been one of those for a long time now, ever since they established a tenuous sense of trust back when Maria was assigned to watch over her during her first months at SHIELD, to make sure she really was on their side and not double-crossing them.

Maria slipped out of Stark Industries, heading out the back door and not attracting any attention. A small white car that no one would pay any attention to was in her parking spot, and she slipped inside. A couple hours later she was hiding it in the underground garage and walking into Avengers compound.

The building was empty. Quiet. A little eerie. She had heard about Wanda being locked up in this place for days — somehow Fury had known that too — and she shook her head when she poked her head into the common room and saw the hole in the middle of the floor, leading down story after story and into the basements below.

She knew exactly where Natasha’s room was and exactly how to get in, thanks to fingerprint scanners she had taken from SHIELD before she’d escaped the building. Natasha was very smart — probably one of the smartest people Maria had ever met — but she could be predictable, even if she wouldn’t agree with that assessment.

Maria found Natasha’s go-bag in the back of the closet behind a hidden panel. She didn’t need to look inside to know it contained two changes of clothes, cash, passports, a gun and spare ammo, two burner phones, and a few other necessities. She put the panel back exactly how she had found it, slipped out into the hall and into the air conditioning vent up in the ceiling and waited.

Almost as if on schedule, Natasha appeared, dressed in a black dress with a few simple strands of jewelry around her neck. She had on heels and her hair was hanging down in waves. She looked like she could have going to a press conference or dinner.

Maria watched as she slipped into her own room, her movements nonchalant, even though as far as Maria could tell, they were alone. She gave her a few seconds, listening to the sound of the closet opening, picturing Natasha pressing down on the thumb catch, the panel swining open …

Maria dropped, slipping into Natasha’s room. Her back was turned. She hadn’t heard anything.

She sat down on Natasha’s perfectly made bed. “Looking for this?”

Natasha whirled around, shock on her face, her mouth opening slighting in a gasp of surprise. A small smile crept over her face when she saw who it was.  
"Nice work," Natasha said. "Of all the people to get the drop on me..." She tipped her head sideways as though she was pondering something. Maria just stared calmly back at her. “Well, I suppose you're not actually near the bottom of the list."  
"I heard what happened at the airport," Maria said. "So, you're leaving."   
"Well." Natasha shrugged. "I hadn't quite decided yet. But I wanted to consider my options."

Maria had guessed that. She had, in fact, guessed most of the things Natasha told her — that as much as she wanted to take responsibility for her actions and be accountable, she needed to know who she was being accountable to before she could. And that she couldn’t let people she cared about suffer in The Raft when she could do something about it.

Maria had also guessed most of the things Natasha didn’t tell her — namely that it was Steve she chose and Steve she wanted to follow, the Accords and the governments of the world be damned.

Maria didn’t tell her that she was proud of her. She knew it wasn’t something Natasha would have wanted to hear. But it was true. She had come a long way from a girl who had only known how to kill to who she was right now.

It was probably why Maria found herself offering to help, offering to put herself in the crosshairs to see if she could find any intel for Natasha, to help her find Steve or people who could help her find Steve.

“Give me one week,” she told Natasha, who agreed.

“See you soon,” Natasha said, as Maria slipped back out of her room and back out into the hallway.

Maria shook her head at herself. Maybe this was stupid, but well, it wouldn’t be the first stupid thing she had done.

And she headed back to her white car to take her home.


End file.
